Five on Friday - New Plants and Fish Pillows

It's nice to be back on track for Five on Friday.  I've been so busy recapping our recent trips that I haven't gotten a real Friday up in awhile.  

Today is going to be all about the plants we planted last weekend and some pillows that I had made.

ONE:

Look at these ugly things.  This below picture is the day we bought the house.

Now it looks like this!  I hated those ugly concrete planters!

TWO:

I planted an herb garden.  I still need to add cilantro in the second to left space.  So far I have rosemary, basil and parsley.  Kevin drilled holes in the bottom of this planter, I added some rocks from our yard at the bottom, then a bag of top soil then a bag of planting soil.  Then I planted!  I've been watering mostly every day since it's been so hot out.

Mint gets it's own pot according to Mamasal.

THREE:

Checking on those pansies that Kevin said I wouldn't be able to keep alive.  For the record Kev, they've been alive since October, well past the month you thought they'd last.  Thank you for letting me buy more plants this past weekend! ;) 

FOUR:

I may have cheated and bought this premade from Lowes.  Full disclosure.  It was cheaper to buy it premade than to make one ourselves.  

This bush is so pretty when it blooms.  Smells like honeysuckle.

And we also got this hibiscus so we could be like our Mom's.  I need to replant it into a bigger pot.

Oh and a hydrangea bush so we could be like both of our Mom's again.

Our patio right now.  Before the patio furniture I told you all we are getting next week.

FIVE:

Fish pillows!  I am obsessed with this fabric which I got at Mary Jo's in Gastonia, NC.  My friend Tara took my inserts and the fabric to a gal she knows and got me the pillows made.  I'm SO excited about these.

For now, they sit in portable chairs...

but won't they look fabulous in these chairs that I'm STILL dreaming about?!  One day...one day!

Hope you ladies have a fun weekend.  Mine will be filled with baby showers and friends!

Blogging

It feels like blogging is becoming a lot less popular and some of my favorite blogs have gone away. 

I wonder why?

Too many mean people in the world?

Not enough time in the day?

People just tired of writing?

Instagram more popular?

I don't know, it's kind of sad.  Thoughts?

New Patio Furniture

We have a large patio out back.  In the below picture (which may I add was taken before we moved in and before some of those awful bushes were gone or majorly trimmed), you'll see the patio.

There used to be a pool in the green area to the right of it but Mrs. Smith had it filled in before she put the home on the market.  There had been issues with it and it was more of a therapy pool than a fun pool that we'd want so we were okay with it.  

Anyway, what is left is a big concrete pad, suitable to be next to a pool but we could do without the concrete.  Instead, we will do pavers, slate or brick or something.  We're not sure but this patio will not be around forever.  It will get bigger and have a more planned backyard.  But, for the time being, we (I) wanted some lounge furniture.  We are out there every single night.  

This is the patio today.  So bare!

We settled on this set from Target.  It will be perfect for now and perfect when we redo the patio.  I've had metal Target outdoor furniture before and it was wonderful.  I didn't want to deal with wicker or maintaining teak.  We just needed something simple and classic.  

We like how the couch is a real couch and we can lay down on it.  One of us in the new hammock, one of us on the couch.  I'm liking how our backyard is shaping up!

I'm not the biggest fan of the table but I'm hoping it's better in person than on the computer screen.  If not, I'll cover it with pretty flowers!

Best part is that we got it for 20% off and free shipping for this huge bulky set which could easily be a couple more hundred dollars.  I think we saved about $400 by getting it this weekend.  Or at least that's what I told Kevin.  ;)  xoxox

Now, we just have to wait for it to be delivered which won't be until next week.  Counting down the days!

Oh and I need to get some more throw pillows made.  Ahh that reminds me, I still haven't shown yall my fish pillows.  Stay tuned!

Memorial Day Weekend 2014

Oh this weekend was SO necessary.  Don't you all wish every weekend was three days?!

On Friday at lunch I got Mills a kiddie pool.  This dog is now obsessed with his pool.  It's actually good because he runs so hard out back...now he has a place to cool off this summer.  

Friday night we did absolutely nothing and it was glorious and needed.  We did get a huge hail storm so we tried to get my car in the garage as far as possible (it already had two cars in there).  Kevin had lots of emails with claims immediately so he worked on those at 8pm that night.

The hail was so big and it took a good 15 minutes for it to melt in 85 degree heat.

We ordered pizza for dinner and Mills begged like a crazy animal.  Obviously we can tell who usually feeds him. ;)

Saturday morning I felt a ton better.  We went to Stacks for breakfast, Lowes and picked up lots of plants (I'll do a separate post on this) and to the Farmers Market.  Productive lil morning.  We did yard work the rest of the day.

Then we took Kevin's parents to a place called Blackthorne for dinner.  They had soft shell crabs as a special so I had to get that.  It was good but I could have done without the gazpacho underneath.  TCBY was our sweet treat afterwards.  They came back to our house and looked at what we had done to the yard.  Nice lil evening!

Sunday I woke up and prepped food for a cookout that night.  My friend Lindsey and her husband Chris (Florida wedding from November) were in town from Dallas and they stayed with us.  

Oh this is what we did Saturday...bagged 12 bags of trimmings from our yard.

But first on Sunday afternoon I got to meet up with Beth at the airport cell phone lot to say hey.  We were college roommates and sorority sisters.  They were in town from MA/NH visiting her inlaws. SO good to see her.   

Back to prepping for Sunday night.  Burger toppings.  The tomatoes were delicious!

Asiago Rosemary cheese from Trader Joe's and horseradish pub cheese.  Favorites.

Red and blue koozies for Memorial Day.

Mills was ready in his red and blue.

Lauren and Andrew also came over so the 6 of us had a nice meal and got to catch up.  

Kevin, Chris, Andrew and a very tired Mills.  I don't know if I've ever seen him that exhausted.

Monday morning I fixed brunch for Lindsey, Chris, Kevin and I.  Bloody marys and mimosas were in order.

They got on the road after brunch.  It was wonderful to see them.  

Kevin put up our Pawleys Island hammock that my brother and sister in law gave us for our wedding.  He couldn't get out of it all day! 

I made this necklace holder yesterday.  I had gone to Lowes on Friday at lunch and gotten the $6 worth of supplies.  I followed Rachel's easy tutorial here.  If I can make this, anyone can.  Rachel is handy, I'm not!  This gives me so much extra room in my drawers and fits perfectly on the wall in my closet.  I'm so excited with it!

Hope you all enjoyed your long weekend.  

In case you missed my Vegas recap yesterday, see link here.

Vegas = Insane

Happy Memorial Day friends.  I usually don't post on holidays but I wanted to recap my Vegas trip last week before I forgot everything.  Thank you for following along on our China/Japan trip.  I'm glad to have it all documented here so when I forget everything, I can look back and relive it.  This is the reason I blog anyway...for Kevin's and my diary.  And because I like you all too! ;)

So Vegas, I go every year for the big commercial real estate conference.  Last year's recap is here.

Sunday:

Pool at Mandalay Bay with Nicole and her BF Julian.

Gambling.  I like to watch Ken play craps and that's about my extent of gambling.  I'd rather go to J.Crew.

Happy Hour at Bellagio with an engineering firm we use.

Fancy dinner for all of our clients at RM Seafood in Mandalay Bay.  We had a private room, ridiculous appetizers and dinner menu, a lot of fancy wine and most importantly, the best clients.  Look at that lobster..it was ginormous.  And the filet - yum.

Afterwards, we went upstairs to Mix for table service and a fabulous view.

Jodie, Nicole and I.

Monday:

Monday morning came early and we all went to the big show at the convention center.  Started out with a breakfast meeting where Jean Chatzky spoke.  What a joy she was and I really enjoyed her keynote address.  She talked about money and how it should be a more public conversation.  She is a correspondent on the Today show.

I told you all last year but the booths that these retailers put together are amazing.  Yogurtland was handing out samples of yogurt, the Bass Pro Booth looked just like their stores, McDonalds had a McCafe, Jimmy Johns had a kitchen and handed out sandwiches.  It's crazy.

After our meetings, I met one of our GC's at Sushi Samba like we did last year.  This is an amazing cucumber martini.

We had a $1,200 lunch for 6 people.  It was INSANE.  Some of the best food I've ever had.  We cooked the meat on the left below on the hot stone on the right.

Crazy sushi.

That night after a fun client happy hour at MGM's Taps, we met up at Mandalay Bay and had a drink at Strip Steak.  Best blue cheese olives ever.  We took this limo to dinner at Tau Asian Bistro in the Venetian.  Hi Nicole's legs haha.

 Inside Tau.

Our contractor took us here and it was so good. The way we usually order at all of these places - the guys tell the waiter - just bring whatever is really good and we'll all split it.  So this was my plate for dinner.  This was after appetizers.  I'm never eating again.  Sake was also involved of course.

Tuesday:

Pool with Wendy.  Dinner out.  That is in a mirror so while it looks like my left hand, it is my right hand so that's where my rings are.  I'm sure you're concerned haha!

We went to Joe's for another ridiculous dinner.  The stone crab was amazing.

Tuna - even better.

And lots of great sides.

The waiter was hilarious and probably the best waiter I've ever had.  

Next stop...limo to old school Vegas.

Freemont East.  On the hunt for Commonwealth and specifically Speakeasy which was the private, secretive bar in the back of Commonwealth that our waiter at Joe's told us about.  Commonwealth ended up being closed.  Bummer.

Wednesday:

Pool with Jodie at MGM.

Then drinks with Jodie and Nicole at Strip Steak.  Those blue cheese olives.  I don't even like blue cheese but I do in a dirty gin martini!

Then dinner at Sushi Samba haha!  We love the place!

Sushi saaaaaaaaamba!

Then Nicole had to go catch her red eye and Jodie and I finished off with a glass of champagne at Tau to toast she and her husband's new home that she was closing on the next day (last Thursday).  Woohoo!

Cab ride back to Mandalay.

Then a 1:15am flight back to Charlotte.  Which was the longest 3.5 hours of my life.  Sushi + alcohol + flying = no bueno.

When I arrived home, I got to see this lil boy and eventually Kevin on Thursday night.

Mills felt the same way I did - exhausted.  I did a lot of recovery this past weekend.  Very necessary.

Another successful Vegas trip!